He came to Florida a highly decorated recruit, and one-time talk of him belong in the lottery wowing those hung up on potential. He also spent four years with the Gators, impressing those who value college experience.

That technically puts him at a disadvantage. The Pelicans can waive him at any time, but if he wants to sign a guaranteed contract with another team, he can’t because of this deal with New Orleans. Theoretically, the Pelicans could bring another big man to camp and waive Young if the other player impresses more.

However, in reality, I believe a roster inertia exists that helps Young. I bet the Pelicans would give him undue preference simply because he’s already under contract.

No official word on Bairstow’s contract terms, but Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com has a theory related to Kirk Hinrich, who didn’t officially sign until today after previously agreeing to a deal:

Seems as though Bairstow was snuck in before Hinrich so as to give him the dregs of the cap space and the extra year after all.

A team may exceed the cap for a minimum contract up to two years in length. If the Bulls signed Bairstow to a three-year contract, they’ll have his Bird rights when it expires. That’s why they’d sign him before Hinrich exhausts their cap space.

However, Chicago doesn’t have to give him any guaranteed money. He might be in the same boat as Young.

In fact, in Saturday’s dunk contest, he didn’t look like a dunker at all.

The Pacers star missed all three attempts of his first dunk, and a Black Panther mask was by far the biggest draw of his second. Oladipo was eliminated after the first round.

Maybe Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t the only eliminated dunker who left something in his bag. This Oladipo dunk – 180 degrees, throwing ball off the backboard with his left hand while in mid-air, dunking with his right hand – while preparing in Los Angeles was awesome.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’d be surprised if Kawhi Leonard played again this season, a stark reversal from just a month ago. Back then, even while announcing Leonard was out indefinitely with a quad injury, the San Antonio coach said Leonard wouldn’t miss the rest of the season.

After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he’s prepared to play again, sources told ESPN.

Leonard has been medically cleared to return from the right quad tendinopathy injury, but since shutting down a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended Jan. 13, he has elected against returning to the active roster, sources said.

The uncertainty surrounding this season — and Leonard’s future which could include free agency in the summer of 2019 — has inspired a palpable stress around the organization, league sources said.

At first glance, this sounds like Derrick Rose five years ago. Even after he was cleared to play following a torn ACL, the then-Bulls star remained mysterious about when he’d suit up. His confidence in his physical abilities seemed to be a major issue, and he was never the same player since (suffering more leg injuries).

But the Spurs famously favor resting players to preserve long-term health. They seem unlikely to rush back Leonard. They might even sit players who want to play more often. And Leonard isn’t Rose.

Still, it’s clear something is amiss in San Antonio. Maybe not amiss enough to end Leonard’s tenure there, but the longer this lingers, the more time for tension to percolate.